


Sweetener

by gravereaction



Category: Corpse Husband - Fandom
Genre: Adoption, Angst, Depression, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Gaming, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, References to Depression, Self Confidence Issues, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:15:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29548482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gravereaction/pseuds/gravereaction
Summary: Lydia can’t keep her head on straight around him. Especially when he gets her to number one in just a few short months. Not only in the charts but in his heart as well.
Relationships: Corpse Husband (Video Blogging RPF)/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 8





	1. simp

**Author's Note:**

> Hello.   
> This is Elizabeth or @/juvenilecake on Wattpad and Tiktok has me freaked the fuck out about removing mature stories so here I am reposting mine to my AO3. Is it actually going to happen? How could they do that from a business point of view; they will be losing so many stories, writers, and readers.   
> Anyway, enjoy. This is the same as what’s published on Wattpad.   
> Elizabeth

「𝙎𝙄𝙈𝙋」

𝙨 𝙬 𝙚 𝙚 𝙩 𝙚 𝙣 𝙚 𝙧

𝟭𝟭/18/20

@𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘆𝗲

𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿

𝗹𝗶𝗹 𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗷𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴!

𝟮k 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 — 𝟲k 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 — 𝟭𝟬𝟰𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀

@𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗺𝗮n𝗲

𝗱𝗼𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗶 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁

𝟭k 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 — 𝟵𝟳𝟴 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 — 𝟳𝟲𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀

@𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗽𝘀𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝘀𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱

@𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺

𝟰kcommenta — 𝟮k 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 — 𝟭𝟯𝟳𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀

@𝗹𝘆𝗱

𝗶 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝘁, 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝘃𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘀

𝟵𝟯𝟱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 — 𝟭k 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 — 𝟮𝟮𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀

@𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗽𝘀𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝘀𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱

@𝗹𝘆𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄(ღ˘⌣˘ღ)

𝟲k 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 — 𝟮k 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 — 𝟰𝟱𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀

Lydia decided to end that conversation there. With hot cheeks she walked to the desk and slid into the rolling chair. After hearing a 𝙝𝙢𝙥𝙛 she gasped and looked under her desk.

"Sorry Fiz," she told the poor dog. He got up and glared at her with his blue eyes and walked to her bed to curl up in a bagel on it.

@𝗹𝘆𝗱

𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝟱?????👀

2 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 — 1 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 — 102 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀

The tab was still open on her gaming monitor from the night before. She was on a private gaming session for charity that would hopefully be edited and published by the end of the week. The taps on the keyboard were by muscle memory and her eyes scanned the screen but her brain didn't retain anything. An overwhelming sensation in her chest fizzed her brain of anything about gaming or the stream like baking soda in water.

@^-^)/🔪

𝗟𝗬𝗗𝗜𝗔𝗔𝗔𝗔𝗔𝗔 o(≧▽≦)o

𝟲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 — 𝟮 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 — 𝟲𝟯 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀

@𝗹𝘆𝗱

𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗲 ٩(˘◡˘)۶

𝟮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 — 𝟭 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁 — 𝟮𝟱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀

@𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮

𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗲 :(

𝟰 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝟮 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝟰𝟳 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀

@𝗹𝘆𝗱

𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 👀

𝟵 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝟴 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝟵𝟮 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀

Maybe she just needed some time to game by herself? Perhaps she just needed some time with her friends on a stream by herself...

"Hi guys!" Lydia exclaimed as she hit the 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 button. The chat was quick but thankfully she was able to read it all.

𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹𝘅𝗼 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟭

𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻?

"Thanks Angel! I would have to say soon but I'm not for sure."

𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗲𝟲𝟰𝟮 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟭

𝘆𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗢𝗙𝗙 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗵𝗼𝗲𝘀

"Thanks Nicole," Lydia laughed, "what can I say? Being imposter does things to me."

_𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘆𝗷𝗮𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟱

𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗽𝘀𝗲 👀

"Thank you Danny.. um," Lydia licked her lips and blinked a few times. Suddenly that heat in her face returned. "ah, yeah I guess—"

𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘆𝗿𝗮𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟮𝟬

𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗶 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 ::>_<::

"Sorry Rae!" Lydia laughed. "You can join." Lydia began to set up Rachel as the second streamer in her Twitch stream.

𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗣𝗦𝗘 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟮𝟬

𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗽𝘀𝗲?

Her throat tightened and she pretended to not see his comment. But the chat went wild and she couldn't read it anymore. At this point there were 30k+ viewers and all of them were going 𝙗𝙤𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙧𝙨 in the chat.

"Corpse!" Was the first thing Rachel exclaimed as her face camera coincided with Lydia's.

"Hi Rae," Lydia sheepishly said.

"He's here too!"

"Really?" Lydia pretends to be excited. She was— but like, she was trying to be ~𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙠𝙚𝙮~ about it. "What happened to my private little stream with my people huh?" She teased thankful for the snarky comeback. Valkyrae only laughed and the two began to talk with fans over chat.

All was well for the first hour and then Valkyrae left to prepare for their weekly Among Us stream.

"See you in a little bit guys!" Rachel said before logging out.

"Ahhh," Lydia sighed and leaned back in her chair and sipped on her Waterloo. "That was nice." She continued reading the chat.

𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗶𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟮

𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺

"Thanks Peeki! But my piano playing can be for my alone time." Lydia shook her head and leaned forward to better read chat. "God, I shouldn't have said anything."

𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗣𝗦𝗘 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟱𝟬

𝗶 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘂𝘀

"Corpse stop it," Lydia laughed. "I swear to god I will give you back all your money during your stream. And piano is for my eyes only, thank you."

𝗵𝗮𝘆𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀𝟮𝟰 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟱

𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀

"Thank you Hayden, stop guys." She pressed her fingers to her cheeks. "You guys are too nice to me."

"You know, I should really start warming up for the live."

𝗸𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿_ 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟭

𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗽𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝗽

"Um— ka.. lo— kalorbar? Thank you! Sorry about the pronunciation and I'll play if he wants to." She read through the dozens and dozens of messages and thanked all the donations as well until Corpse decided to show up again.

𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗣𝗦𝗘 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟮𝟬

𝗶'𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 （*^_^*）

"I'm ready if you are—" Lydia read his message out loud, "alrighty, you heard the man. Let's play some pre stream among us, shall we everyone?" Lydia started her app in beta and Corpse shared his code with her. They got a few other people on as well—mostly ones who would be in the stream—but also invited some private friends as well. Only Lydia was streaming the rounds.

"I swear to god if I get imposter— I'm not ready for this shit," Lydia whispered while sipping her drink.

𝙄𝙈𝙋𝙊𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙍

𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙎𝙮𝙠𝙠𝙪𝙣𝙤

"Well Shit—" Lydia pops her neck before dramatically setting her drink down and stretching. "This oughtta be good!"

As they rampaged the map, the chat went wild. It was difficult for Lydia to ignore the viewers. In the "dark," Lydia raced around the map, faking tasks here and there, but she suddenly saw Sykkuno waltz around the corner. Corpse stood completely wires on one wall opposite of them.

"Oh hey guys," Corpse said as he heard them through proximity.

"Hey new friend, whatcha doin?" Lydia asked.

"Just doing my tasks."

"Uh-hu," she said skeptically.

"It would be a shame if you were to kill me in front of Sykkuno right now, hm?" He teased.

"I was about to say the same thing—"

Just then, lights were fixed but at the exact moment, Sykkuno kills Valkyrae who bursted around the corner screaming, "It's Scarra! Scarra's chasing me!"

"What?!" Corpse gasped as Valkyrae's blood spatters against the frosted walls and Lydia screamed.

"You wanna report it or me?" Corpse teased.

"What are you—"

"You're being sus let me get in rang—" And Corpse's blood mixed with Valkyrae as Lydia retracted her knife.

𝙑𝙄𝘾𝙏𝙊𝙍𝙔

A deep 𝙉𝙊 was the first thing everyone heard followed by gasps and Sykkuno and Lydia'a loud laughter.

"You should have seen him!" Lydia gasped.

"How dare you! What a double kill, fuck you!" Her face just glowed as she laughed at Corpse.

"What the fuck happened?!" Toast screamed.

"We didn't even get a chance to vote!" Felix complained.

"Don't put me with Sykkuno ever again then."

"You were great, Lyd."

"As were you, Sykkuno."

"You're a bunch of simps. Fuck you all!" Toast declared.

"I guess we're ready to go live?" Lily asked. And Toast trampled over her soft voice:

"Bring it 𝙤𝙣!"


	2. adrenaline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 「 𝘕𝘖𝘛𝘌𝘚 」
> 
> 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴? 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘤𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘸𝘰; 𝘈𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘌𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘮 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘈𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘯. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘈𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 
> 
> 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘌𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴 ٩(˘◡˘)۶
> 
> 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨  
> 𝘌𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘩

「 𝘈𝘋𝘙𝘌𝘕𝘈𝘓𝘐𝘕𝘌 」

𝘴 𝘸 𝘦 𝘦 𝘵 𝘦 𝘯 𝘦 𝘳

11/20/2020

"I thought it was normal at first but when he said that, I just— I just— how could he say that? Wait, how does he even know what normal is?" Lydia held her best friend as she sobbed into her chest. Her long dark hair blanketed around her wet face and Lydia brushed the tangled locks away. Her face was sunken in and lips were unable to curve upward in the usual fashion Manya usually brought.

How traditional her father was stirred Lydia's heart in anger constantly. She hated Manya's boyfriend—or fiancé now—and she wished someone anyone else for poor Manya. Lydia remembered the tale Manya told of her walking into his room 𝘯𝘰𝘵 being the only woman in the room and soon after being told the sorry excuse of "women don't have say in the matters of men especially ones due to them." But when she found out about the situation at hand—that Manya's fiancé compared her intimacy to the others he used—Lydia was thrown over edge.

She didn't know over what she was thrown and she didn't know what she would do, but Lydia was 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦.

Boundaries weren't something Lydia crossed. Especially traditional boundaries, so she was stuck. It tore her apart to see her best friend cry. It tore her apart to see her best friend secretly take on and off her traditional clothing. It tore her apart that the only men in her life abused her near to death and because of the grips of religion, Lydia, nor the police, could do anything.

"If that's what I'm going to go though, I'm ready to die instead."

"Don't you say that!" Lydia exclaimed. She held Manya's face in her hands. "We've talked before and I won't say it again, you know your worth and your power in this country. So don't think you can cheat yourself by committing something permanent." Manya cried harder and threw her arms around her best friend's neck.

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

Half past three the girls were on their desktops ready to stream. Considering 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 things, Manya wasn't allowed a desktop of her own so she secretly had a set up in Lydia's room. The both of them included in the Among Us crew.

"Guys! Lopie is here!"

"Hi," Manya sheepishly spoke. A series of excited "𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘴!" came from the other side. Lydia felt her smile to her side.

"We need one more," a deep voice spoke and Lydia dropped her smile. Her stomach erupted in flames and she nibbled her bottom lip.

"5up I think is coming..." Toast said.

It was a blur, Lydia's thoughts, as they all played the most chaotic rounds of among us. Valkyrae with Jack was too much for them all and the pair won their imposter round with a double kill in front of a simping corpse. Lydia always knew he had a weak spot for Spedicey. They didn't even get to a discussion screen.

Sykkuno and Lydia were imposter teamed up again and this time, they deceived everyone. Then and there Lydia wished proximity wasn't a mod. But then again, it was a blessing. As imposter, her vision spanned across her entire screen. Luckily enough, Lydia was smart enough to wheel her desk perpendicular from Manya so the two wouldn't peak onto each other's screens.

Scouring the map after noticing yellow and blue were dead, Lydia gasped as she noticed orange keeled over. Damn Sykkuno. She had to up her game. She vented just as Spedicey strolled around the corner—blessed lights—and clicked around the page until she saw poor Lopie with Corpse finishing wires in lights. Then Valkyrae walked up to fix lights. In the distance Corpse was away from Lopie, if Lydia pulled this off, then she could sneak a kill before—

*𝘴𝘩𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬*

"What! No! Holy shit..." And corpse ran past Lopie's body but the vent snapped shut just before he stole a glimpse of the color. Lydia winced as she wondered if he knew.

𝘋𝘌𝘈𝘋 𝘉𝘖𝘋𝘠

"No! Not Lopie!" Rae cried.

"It was a vent kill right in front of me and I missed the color!" Corpse cried.

"Oh my god! Toast! Bretman! Felix!"

"Everyone's dead!" Lydia smiled as Sykkuno's exasperated voice that was extremely unconvincing. Lydia silently laughed in her hand and hid behind her monitor. A head popped around.

"Fuck you, bitch!" Manya yelled and Lydia lost it. Thankfully they both muted their mics beforehand. Then Lydia turned it back on when Sykkuno was strategically asking everyone's positions.

"I checked vitals and only toast was dead so I tried to find his body and medscanned on the way since I passed by it then a body was reported."

"Literally— why not press the button?"

"Tasks, Spedicey. Tasks!"

"We're running out of time!" Rae called out.

"Eh whatever—"

"Skip!" Sykkuno giggled.

They ended up skipping completely and Manya went off, while on mute, complaining about how they couldn't avenge her death. Lydia ran around the map too anxious to do tasks and she swore someone would catch onto her, but she finally found Corpse on cams.

"Hey Corpse."

"Don't kill me."

"I'm not, I'm scared you'll kill me. We all know you're only on cams when you're imposter."

"I'm not imposter," he took a step forward to prove he wasn't on the cams screen anymore.

"Right. That's what they all say."

"Could say the same thing about you, why are you here? Don't you have tasks?"

"Was in the area and saw you on cams and came to say hi," she said smugly. Then her heart dropped. Lights—

"*gasp* Lights— how did you know I was?"

"Oh no." And Corpse ran off screaming. Lydia followed him quickly behind.

"No! Can't have you—"

*𝘴𝘩𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬*

"Sorry Corpsey." And Lydia ran while laughing back into cams to vent. But Sykkuno had killed Sean, unbeknownst to Lydia, so the screen went black and the victory screen flashed ahead of her eyes.

"—oooooo!" The end of Corpse's dramatic '𝘯𝘰!' rang in everyone's ears and Lydia yelled '𝘺𝘦𝘴!' when she heard Sykkuno's iconic laugh.

"Goddamnit, Lyd. I swear to god—"

"That was amazing you guys," Rae laughed.

"I didn't think we had it!" Sykkuno exclaimed.

"Lydia basically told me she had imposter vision, saw I was on cams, then slaughtered me in cold blood," Corpse complained.

"All she's good for!" Manya hissed and Sean laughed.

"Well damn," Felix said.

"Another round?" Toast tried to convince everyone; Bretman already said it was his last and Rae had another stream.

"I don't know, I suppose since Sykkuno and Lyd literally ransacked the entire map so fast," Rae laughed.

"I do gotta go," Bretman sighed. "I'm already late to a thing. People are here to film."

"Awe okay! Bye Bretman!" Everyone said their goodbyes.

"So who's to replace him?" Sykkuno asked.

"Everytime Sykkuni. Everytime..." Sean laughed.

"I might leave too," Rae decided.

"Maybe we can do Rust or something?" Sykkuno suggested.

"I don't wanna go on without Rae though," Corpse told him. After a few minutes of debate, they all decided to end the stream there. They had been streaming for at least three hours now, and Manya had gotten anxious about whether to go home or not.

Once everyone left, Lydia simply turned off live and set her headset down not closing the softwares or anything. She stood up and Manya began to talk to her.

"Thanks for letting me play again."

"Stop saying thanks, we love playing with you." Lydia hugged her tightly.

"Have a good day, or evening now," she giggled.

"You too." And Manya left. Lydia hummed to herself as she walked back over and put her headset on. She talked to herself about what she was doing when suddenly—

"Guys seriously." It was Corpse's voice laughing in her screen that made her gasp.

"Corpse?" She asked.

"Oh god, you scared me," he said.

"Hi, I thought you were off."

"Me too, are you live?"

"No. Just forgot to log out."

"I'm about to, I'm still live— yes, it's Lyd everyone," he chuckled.

"Hi Corpse's chat!"

"Okay I'm really leaving now, bye guys." It took a few seconds as Corpse read the dozens and dozens of slow mode messages coming through the screen. "I'll be on in the morning hopefully. Depends on how tonight is, okay bye... bye..." And he was off live.

"Are you off?" Lydia asked.

"Yeah now I am." A couple seconds passed. "How rude of you, by the way, I mean it was an epic win but at the same time, it hurts." Lydia laughed.

"Serves you right. Killing me in the round before..."

"You were annoying!" Lydia gasped.

"Whatever, fuck you. If we played again you would have been the first I would kill."

"Maybe we both would have been imposters."

"Awe no fun," Lydia complained.

"No we'd do well." Lydia's stomach twisted.

"Perhaps."

"Okay, I have to go now. Some things I have to do before recording."

"*𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘱* You're recording?!"

"Yes," he chuckled. "But I don't feel well now and I don't want to ruin my voice for tomorrow any more than it will be."

"Oh," her voice dropped. "Okay, sorry it feels bad I hope recording doesn't hurt it this time."

"Thanks, we'll see what happens."

"If were even possible for you to go on a tour, I would be at every concert just so you know." Corpse laughed and Lydia's heart warmed. She didn't recognize his tone, she hoped she didn't make him uncomfortable.

"Honestly I wish it was possible. Don't tell anyone I said that, but I would love to do that. It just hurts to much to even record and I can't even post photos of myself on social media much less—" his voice choked there.

"No it's okay, I get it. I don't mean to stress you—"

"You didn't stress me out at all. I just wish I didn't feel the way I do. Like mentally and physically, it makes me happy you would want to be there though."

"Really?"

"Yeah of course." Lydia smiled widely. She was glad neither of them used facecams or else he would have seen her flushed cheeks.

"Okay, well I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow Lydia."

"Bye Corpse."

And they both exited the softwares. Her heart beat quickly and shouldn't tell why. Corpse made her nervous and her wrists shook as she closed out of the apps. Her fingertips were cold on her mouse and the flutter in her chest wasn't usual.

She loved the sound of her name on his lips.

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

"Lydia?"

"Oh god," she groaned and rolled her eyes loudly. "Here we go—"

"Happy birthday!"

"Thanks mom," she giggled awkwardly as her mother walked joyfully into the room. A small cupcake and a gift were in either of her hands. Lydia sat up more on her bed so that she leaned against th headboard and bent her knees. Her mother sat across from her. The smile faded though as she watched her mother's face light up.

"What is it baby?" Lydia only sighed.

"You know..

"Yeah, I do," she sighed.

Lydia felt dramatic. God, she turned 25 today and yet she still was sad about not seeing her older sister every other fucking millisecond. Of course Camryn lived her own life and had her own house and job and life now, but Lydia felt left out. For the past seven years she had; ever since Camryn wen to college. She was happy the two dweebs were gone, obviously, the bratty sister bad younger brought her finally decided to grow up and be adults.

Unlike herself.

And she hated every second of it.

"You know they'll be back in less than a week for thanksgiving. We're seeing everyone then."

"I know. Sorry for being lame."

"You're not." Lydia just smiled and hugged her tightly.

"Now open it!" Lydia grumbled and took the tiny box in her hand.

When the paper fell to the duvet and the little box flaps opened, her eyes widened and her smile grew wider.

"What—What is this?"

“It was passed.”   
  


“Oh my god,” she cried as tears welled in her eyes. She pulled the medication out of the box and began to read the paper stapled to it. “But it’s so expensive!” Her mother shook her head quickly.

”Don’t worry about any of that.”

And Lydia’s arms fell around her mother’s neck tightly. 

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙ ＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙


	3. flushed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 「 𝘕𝘖𝘛𝘌𝘚 」︎  
>  𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦. 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘪'𝘮 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺  
> 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺  
> 𝘌𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘩
> 
> ＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙ ＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

「 𝘍𝘓𝘜𝘚𝘏𝘌𝘋 」

𝘴 𝘸 𝘦 𝘦 𝘵 𝘦 𝘯 𝘦 𝘳

12/13/2020

𝘛𝘞𝘐𝘛𝘛𝘌𝘙

𝘛𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦:

'𝘓𝘠𝘋𝘐𝘈 ' 𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘛𝘜𝘉𝘌 𝘚𝘛𝘙𝘌𝘈𝘔𝘌𝘙, 𝘊𝘓𝘖𝘚𝘌 𝘍𝘙𝘐𝘌𝘕𝘋𝘚 𝘞𝘐𝘛𝘏 𝘚𝘛𝘙𝘌𝘈𝘔𝘌𝘙𝘚 𝘓𝘐𝘒𝘌 𝘑𝘈𝘊𝘒𝘚𝘌𝘗𝘛𝘐𝘊𝘌𝘠𝘌, 𝘝𝘈𝘓𝘒𝘠𝘙𝘈𝘌, 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘊𝘖𝘙𝘗𝘚𝘌 𝘏𝘜𝘚𝘉𝘈𝘕𝘋, 𝘎𝘖𝘌𝘚 𝘍𝘙𝘖𝘔 179𝘒 𝘛𝘖 5𝘔𝘐𝘓𝘓𝘐𝘖𝘕 𝘚𝘜𝘉𝘚𝘊𝘙𝘐𝘉𝘌𝘙𝘚 𝘖𝘝𝘌𝘙𝘕𝘐𝘎𝘏𝘛, 𝘔𝘈𝘒𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘏𝘌𝘙 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘍𝘈𝘚𝘛𝘌𝘚𝘛 𝘚𝘔𝘈𝘓𝘓 𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘕𝘌𝘓 𝘛𝘖 𝘉𝘌 𝘔𝘖𝘕𝘌𝘛𝘐𝘡𝘌𝘋 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘎𝘈𝘐𝘕 𝘚𝘜𝘉𝘛𝘈𝘕𝘛𝘐𝘈𝘓 𝘗𝘜𝘉𝘓𝘐𝘊𝘐𝘛𝘠 𝘞𝘐𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘕 𝘈 24 𝘏𝘖𝘜𝘙 𝘗𝘌𝘙𝘐𝘖𝘋

"Oh shit."

"My phone's broken."

"Oh my god."

"What the actual—"

@𝗷𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘆𝗲

@𝗟𝘆𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻

3.8k comments – 9k retweets – 389k likes

@𝗟𝘆𝗱

@𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗸_𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗰_𝗘𝘆𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝘆 "𝗽𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻"

5.3k comments – 4.3k retweets – 108k likes

↳︎@𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝟯𝟴𝟰𝟵𝟰𝟵 𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆

↳︎@𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝗢𝗛 𝗠𝗬 𝗚𝗢𝗗 𝗜 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧

𝗪𝗢𝗞𝗘 𝗨𝗣 𝗟𝗬𝗗𝗜𝗔𝗔𝗔𝗔

↳︎@𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗯𝗼 𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟.

↳︎@𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲

↳︎@𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿

↳︎@𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗲_𝟭𝟬𝟬𝟮𝟵 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘

𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗛𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬

↳︎@𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗽𝘀𝗲_𝗛𝘂𝘀𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝘁 👀

↘@𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗸_𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗰_𝗘𝘆𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗲𝗿

𝗚𝗢 𝗺𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗱

𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 . . .

@𝗟𝘆𝗱

𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝘂𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼 ❤️

9k comments – 12k retweets – 328k comments

↳︎@𝗹𝘆𝗱𝗸𝗸𝘂𝗻𝗼 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗗 𝗪𝗘 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨

↳︎@𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘂𝘄𝘂 𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗘𝗡

↳︎@𝗟𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱

↘@𝗟𝘆𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘅

↘@𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲

↘@𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗽𝘀𝗲_𝗛𝘂𝘀𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗵𝗵𝗵𝗵 𝘀𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲

𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝘆𝗽𝗲

𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝘁

↘@𝗟𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗲 😎

↳︎@𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗸_𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗰_𝗘𝘆𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂

𝗴𝗼 𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹

↘@𝗟𝘆𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘂𝘁

𝗵𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘆

↘@𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗸_𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗰_𝗘𝘆𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲.

↘@𝗟𝘆𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁

↳︎@𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗸𝗸𝘂𝘄𝘂 ❤️❤️ 𝗪𝗘 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨

𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 . . .

For a second Lydia forgot where she was. She didn't know what planet she woke up on and she definitely forgot her name. And her feet hadn't even touched the ground yet. She sat up in her room and glanced at the pc in the corner next to the window. Orange light spilled out. The room was cool and dried her adrenaline. Fuck.

With a smile she hoped out of bed and got ready for the day. Not without fucking up her makeup a few times, her trembling hands didn't help the process at all. Once decent, she ran to the kitchen to make some sort of breakfast so her stomach wouldn't cramp with nerves and anticipation about the planned stream later in that day.

Wait, she had to do a thank you stream.

She slid into her chair and put the headphones on quickly. After opening up her systems, she exhaled a long breath to release the pent up chaotic energy.

Relax. You can do this.

🛑 𝘓𝘐𝘝𝘌

@𝗟𝘆𝗱

𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺??? 𝗵𝘁𝘁𝗽:// . . .

7k comments –1k retweets – 90k likes

"Hi everyone!" She cried as she waved her hand.

1𝘒 𝘝𝘐𝘌𝘞𝘌𝘙𝘚

"How is everyone's morning?"

19𝘒 𝘝𝘐𝘌𝘞𝘌𝘙𝘚

"I'll—I'll begin speaking once the view count is more stable..."

85𝘒 𝘝𝘐𝘌𝘞𝘌𝘙𝘚

"What the heck... you guys."

160𝘒 𝘝𝘐𝘌𝘞𝘌𝘙𝘚

"Can you not! Now I'm nervous as fuck!"

390𝘒 𝘝𝘐𝘌𝘞𝘌𝘙𝘚

"I'm going to throw up." Tears welled in her eyes as she put the chat in slow mode. The comments overwhelmed her soul with joy as she saw how many people had been made happy by her videos. Each comment meant something to her. Each comment was a person.

𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟴 𝗱𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟭

𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵

𝗿𝗲𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗱𝘀𝗸𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝟭 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟱

𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀!! 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁!!

𝗱𝘆𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘀_ 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟮

𝗔 𝗛𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧

𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟭𝟬

𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗲

𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗣𝗦𝗘 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟮𝟬

𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝘆 ❤️❤️❤️

𝗽𝗼𝗸𝗶 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟮𝟬

𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝗮𝘁!

"You guys are literally the best," Lydia laughed as she wiped a tear. "Jonathan, Katie, Melissa, Cassie, Katie, Lemmie, Jack, fuck— I'm sorry I can't read them all." As the late super chats flooded in, she noticed some from her friends.

"Corpse stop," she laughed. "Oh my god, thank you and hi Poki!"

"So I just wanted to start by saying thank you guys for making history. I don't know why you chose me to do it. But like— I'm still in shock." She raised her hands so show that they shook like little leaves. "I didn't expect to ever reach 1Mill much less 5Mill. You gave me too much power for what little I do."

As she read the stream, she looked down to see a specific notification.

𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗠: (@Lydia) @corpse_husband would like to send you a dm

"What..." she said slowly. Suddenly she forgot about the chat. She unlocked her phone and opened her Instagram. She was thankful to have immediately configured her settings to popular account status. Then she wouldn't have noticed Corpse's message.

CORPSE

hi x

you're the best

i'm fucking proud and you

don't give yourself enough

credit

and you do? x

thank you corpsey

also.. 

i've done this w the others just

not with you

858-xxx-xxxx

Lyd

713-xxx-xxx

:)

Then she looked up at the screen with a smile. And she began to talk with her viewers for an hour or two. A tiny kick of warmth and joy sparked her words.

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

"I swear to go—"

"OH MY GOD!"

*𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘴*

"JACK!"

Tears streamed down Lydia face as she laughed so hard that it was silent in the mic. Corpse, Rae, and Sykkuno's laughs rang with hers as Jack's screams faded into the dark. His body lay crooked and disfigured on the dark animation of a rug and Corpse ran off into the dark with his dingy flashlight bouncing side to side.

"My god! She came out of no where!" Sykkuno cried.

"I'm running! I can't—I can't do this!" Lydia cackled as she ran out of the haunted house.

"Fuck that shit!" Lydia leapt back and forth in her chair not even trying to control the tears that flowed from her laughter. Corpse ran past her as Rae screamed and melted to the floor. "We have enough! Let's go!" Corpse yelled and laughed hysterically as he led her back to the hq room.

"Sykkuwu! Hurry!" Lydia screamed from the door as he was chased through the grass!

"Guys!" He screamed and zoomed through Corpse. Lydia shut the door.

"That was the most stressful last round ever! Jesus!" Sean finally said as they began to exit the game.

"I swear to god, the way your body contorted on the way down had me rolling," Corpse laughed.

"Rae! How could you subject us to such trauma!" Sykkuno exclaimed.

After a little bit, the five logged off. It was already 11pm and Lydia wanted a nice rest after such a long day that raised her cortisol levels to the max. After saying goodbyes, she logged off and set her headset down.

"Hi fizzy," she giggled and pet the prettiest golden boy's head. His fluffy tail slowly wagged. She got up to let him outside. As she stood on the back patio, she scrolled through messages and tweets. Then suddenly—

858-xxx-xxxx

hey x what a day

Lydia immediately smiled as she recognized that area code.

𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘴𝘦𝘺

Corpsey x

thanks. this feels like a dream

i think you handled it so well

i wish i were better

you're so amazing already, I'd be

evenmore surprised by you if you

were even slightly better

which i mean is impossible since

you're perfect

Lydia would be lying if she said her face didn't turn a rosy shade and burn under her cool fingertips touch.

𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘺

i smell a simpy

accept my compliment

fine but just this once

definitely won't be the last x

Lydia licked her lips. Fizzy raced past her and into the house where he was ready to make he bed at the foot of her comforters. She sighed and walked into the house and locked the back door behind her. She quietly made her back up the stairs to her bedroom.

The house felt empty.

Lonely.

After Emory left for college, Lydia had the house to herself as the last child. She was older than him, but did online school for only two years after ultimately dropping out to pursue YouTube. She closed the door lightly and flopped on her bed. The upside was the only her parents shared the house and they slept downstairs. An entire story was given just to her. Aside from Cameryn's bedroom. She had an affinity for gaming as well. She would graduate in a semester then come home and pick up the rest of her things before permanently moving out. Lydia thought about all of the fun times they would have in her new downtown apartment.

Being independent. Her older sister meant more to her than older sisters typically did. They never argued and Cameryn never antagonized her. They were just territorial with their belongings.

𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘴𝘦𝘺

i don't mean to be weird, am

i? I'm not coming on too much?

not at all I'm just not used to boys

actually looking at me much less

being nice

good

and boys should stop being dicks

you're right

It had been a few minutes—an hour perhaps—and Lydia couldn't stop replying to Corpse. It was impossible for her to say goodnight. Talking with him distracted her from everything, and getting to know one of the most secretive people on the internet meant a lot to her. Having Corpse trust her that much was an honor she wasn't willing to trivialize.

  
𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘴𝘦𝘺

you'll be streaming tomorrow?

yep definitely getting those hours

in before YouTube inevitably takes

them away

good thinking

i think I'm going to sleep now

oh shit forgot it's like 1am there

goodnight Lyd x see you on stream

goodnight x see you there 😌

Lydia sighed and tossed her phone on the table next to her bed. Her long dark hair painted her pillowcase as her eyes immediately drifted closed. Flashes of thoughts of that faceless man jump scared her but she smiled and fell asleep thinking of his perfect laugh and beautiful voice.


	4. outed

「 𝘖𝘜𝘛𝘌𝘋 」

𝘴 𝘸 𝘦 𝘦 𝘵 𝘦 𝘯 𝘦 𝘳

01/15/2021

With her head in the clouds still, Lydia forgot about the game. She absentmindedly read the quickening chat and heard muffled voices through discord but only as if she had cotton balls down her eardrums. That was until Corpse began speaking and her attention diverted to him. While she still didn't think about the lobby, game, any other voice, or even the words he said, she still focused on him.

Wow... it had been too long since she heard that voice.

Lydia didn't mean to freak out. No, she didn't freak out. She didn't think she did anyway— ugh. It had been so long ago that she forgot how she felt immediately when he asked her to fly to San Diego. In the moment, she had an inclination to just do it. But something held her back.

"Lydia? I can't hear her—"

"I can't either," Rae interrupted Bretman.

"Hi—Hi, what's up sorry..." she mumbled nervously.

"Oh I can now!"

The start countdown began.

"I just wasn't talking."

"Are you okay, Lyd?" Rae asked.

𝘊𝘙𝘌𝘞𝘔𝘈𝘛𝘌

"Yea—Yeah... I'm good." Lydia immediately began to do her tasks without lingering in conversation. Proximity stressed her out on days like today, but it was also so useful and not nearly as boring.

She ran to finish downloads and uploads Koenig those would take the longest and after, went up to the top of the map. Just as she began up the tall ascent, the lights went down to 0%.

"Oh no..." she whispered. But no one was around... at least from what she could hear. "Someone will fix them. Lights are far from me anyways."

Just as she ran up to water the plants, she heard footsteps.

"Oh hi."

"Ahh!" She screamed and backed into the corner away from the plants. "Where did you come from why are you here? There's lights that have to be done!"

"Baby, I could ask you the same thing." The black crewmate was right in front of her so she could actually see him. She had a feeling that he could see the entire screen though.

"I swear to god, Corpse. If you kill me I'll be so pissed." He only laughed and walked up to the top of the room.

"Come over here."

"Absolutely not," Lydia scoffed as the purple crewmate walked to the center aisle.

"Lydia it's fine I won't kill you."

"Oh! So you 𝘤𝘢𝘯 kill people!"

"I could kill, I would have killed you already."

"Riiiiight," she giggled. "That's not convincing."

"Ugh, Lyd just come here. Stand on the vent with me. I promise I won't kill you."

"You're ridiculous!" She cried but stood on the vent with him where she couldn't see their crewmates clearly. "God, I hate you so much."

"Thanks, hate you too."

"Why are we even here. I'm just going to—"

"I bet someone will fix lights."

"They haven't yet!"

"Oh... maybe the left it up to Felix."

"We all know that Felix is a scaredy cat at fixing lights!"

"Which is merited!" Lydia giggled at him. "So Lydia?"

"Hm?"

"Why haven't you killed me yet?"

"*𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘱* probably because I'm not imposter!"

"Mhmm... that's why you were up here all alone in the dark."

"I was watering my plants! Which I haven't actually done yet..."

"Aw I'm sorry. Maybe you can do them in the afterlife."

"What?" Her eyes went wide and she froze.

"Babushka!"

"Cor—!"

Then a dark green crewmate came out of the vent and screamed as he slaughtered the purple one right before her very eyes.

"Sykkuno!" Lydia screamed.

"-HH MY GOD!" Lydia saw a red ghost right behind her.

"GODAMNIT CORPSE!" She screamed and Valkyrae's shrills of laughter followed the purple ghost to the plants.

"I saw the whole thing! That was incredible!" Rae gasped.

"What a fucking simp!" Lydia cried. "I bet Corpse isn't even an imposter?"

"No! Dream is!" Rae laughed. "Corpse and Sykkuno did the same thing to me and I don't even think that Dream knows that Corpse is simping!"

"I swear to god... he said he wouldn't do it again," Lydia laughed as they floated to Lydia's last task.

"What a liar," Rae teased.

"*𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘱* who's a liar?" The pink ghost floated over.

"Corpse! That's who," Lydia replied. Brooke tsked.

"Of course, what a little bitch." And Lydia could only laugh at that before the three began to follow the imposters around.

𝘋𝘌𝘍𝘌𝘈𝘛

"-IS WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED IF YOU DIDNT—"

"I SWEAR TO GOD LUDWIG, CORPSE SAID—"

"All you motherfuckers can't trust that goddamn bitch anymore."

"It was Corpse's idea!" Sykkuno gasped. Toast, Ludwig, and Felix screamed at each other as Corpse and Sykkuno's laughter drowned them out. Lydia heard Dream speak and it sounded like he smiled widely.

"Never trust men."

"Fucking— men 𝘢𝘳𝘦 the worst," Brooke agreed with Lydia.

"It was too good to miss out on," Corpse laughed.

"Yeah! So good that you lied to me and assassinated me in the dark on a vent!" Lydia screamed.

But she didn't hear her bedroom door swing open.

"Why would you go to the vent with him in the first place?!" Bretman yelled.

"Bretman! Corpse was trustworthy in the moment—!"

"Lydia?"

*𝘨𝘢𝘴𝘱*

𝘓𝘺𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦

"Mom!" She exclaimed and scrambled to her feet so she could hide her monitors with her body. She didn't know what to do; she was still live. At least she was able to take her headset off and mute the mic before she leapt up.

"What are you yelling about? What's going on? Who are you talking to?"

"Shit— I'm so sorry. I though—I didn't think you were home."

"It's 2pm on a Saturday. My first one off in a while, boss said I could take a three day weekend to myself. You didn't answer my question."

"Mom—"

"No whining, what's happening? Why were you so loud?"

"I'm just—" her throat clamped up and tears welled in her eyes. Panic settled in her throat and her cheeks flushed pink at the same time her vision blurred. "Playing with my friends—"

"Who's Bretman and Corpse? What are you playing with them?" And her mother shoved past her.

"Mom—" she gasped and before she could help herself, her hand slapped to the edge of her bed before she dropped to her knees.

"What's happening? I'm so confused." Lydi was beyond grateful that her camera had died just before the stream so she hadn't been using a face cam.

"Get out!" Lydia screamed. Her mother turned to her quickly. Tears fel down her face. "Please go! I'd don't realize you were home! Haven't you thought to knock before? I'm in the middle of some—"

"Lydia, Lydia, baby it's okay."

But it wasn't.

Lydia cried into her comforter as her mother sat next to her. Even though her mother's hand fell to her shaking back gently, Lydia's panic and fear couldn't subside.

She knew.

She saw the chat and the money and the names and the game... there was no way she didn't.

"Why haven't you talked about this before?"

"Please!" Lydia gasped. "I wasn't ready. I can't—I can't do this."

"Lyd—"

"No, please go for a second mom I'm about to pass out."

And she felt her mother sigh before getting up and take a few seconds. Then she left the room and closed the door behind her. She sat there frozen and shaking. The few tears of adrenaline dried and her cold and clammy hands trembled. No way her mom could know. It's been a secret for four years... she never streamed often until the past couple months, but still.

With a shaky body, Lydia stood up and fell back into her chair. She put the headset back on and just stared at the illuminated screens blankly. 

𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱????

𝗹𝘆𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗸𝗮𝘆??!!

𝗼𝗵 𝗻𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗸𝗮𝘆

𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱

𝗹𝘆𝗱𝗶𝗮???

𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗶𝗻??

𝗶 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲..

𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗹𝘆𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺?

𝗹𝘆𝗱𝗶𝗮? 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁?

𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗸𝗮𝘆???

𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲??

"Guys hey," she shakily said. "I'm fine. So so so sorry... I—" her throat clamped again. It was impossible to hide her fear. "Um had to do something. On second..."

She pulled her phone out from her pocket and looked to see a text from Brooke and multiple from Corpse.

Corpsey

baby are you okay?

what happened?

did someone come in?

yes.. it was my mom

i kind of freaked out

oh god idk if i can talk rn

baby.. it's okay. just breathe

for a second

I'm trying ugh

if you want to get off I'll tell

them for you xx

Her heart fluttered as she read his text. She swallowed hard. No, she should still play. It didn't matter. Nothing did. What would her mother do anyway? Not like she had access to Twitter or anything.... yet.

It's fine I'll play :)

i just have to catch my breath

"Hey sorry about that!" Lydia exclaimed when she unmuted herself.

"Lydia! I hope everything's okay!"

"Yeah, I'm good!" She replied cheerily to Rae.

"Okay," she replied unsure. Lydia only giggled and tried her hardest to swallow down her fear.

"Let's start!" And the game started.

━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎

"It's still funny to me that you didn't even know that."

"What do you mean?!" Rae's voice screeched over discord. "Toast marinated me again!!"

"You shouldn't have believed him the first time!" Lydia couldn't speak she laughed so hard. Sykkuno's laugh melodized with hers as she listened to Corpse yell back at Rae.

𝘋𝘌𝘍𝘌𝘈𝘛

And every crewmate except for the cyan and pink stood before her. Then her mouse hovered over 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.

"Corpse I swear to god if you ever simp again I'm ending you!" Lydia caught her breath as Rae finished her ranting. Corpse laughed again.

"Wow, the one time you're nice to me. I guess I won't call you a bitch then," Brooke giggled.

"𝘖𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺?" Lydia's stomach twisted.

"Mm... only one round though."

And there it was.

Those familiar butterflies swirling her stomach when she heard that iconic flirty voice. Fuck, he sounded so good when he used that tone. Kind of drove her crazy. It was bizarre how no one else in the lobby was effected by it like her.

As they were saying their goodbyes, Lydia said goodbye to her chat and ended her live. But she stayed a few seconds knowing that Corpse would end his soon. She also liked to talk to his chat as well.

"Hi Corpse's chat!" She said. He chuckled and the two of them read the fast paced words on the screen. She watched his chat next to their little along us lobby and while her voice came through the other end, it was odd hearing it in live time out of her earphones.

"Yes, Melissa thank you! It's fun hijacking his streams."

"Rude. At least you're cute." Lydia blushed. She couldn't believe he said that on stream.

"Yeah but I'm annoying too."

"That too."

Soon after some minutes of talking with chat they said their goodbyes and Corpse went off live. Then they each closed out of the among us apps and stared at each other's names in discord.

"Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah of course I am. Are you okay?" Lydia asked back. He sighed. Of course. Now she was anxious.

"I was just worried about what happened earlier."

"Right, I'll have to deal with that," she sighed in frustration. "I don't know why I thought I could just keep it a secret for forever. I literally live in my parent's house."

"I'm surprised how long you've done it for though."

"Me too." And there was more silence. It was so thick and that it replaced the anxiety she had about her mother. She forgot all about that situation.

"We haven't talked in almost four days."

"Oh."

Good job.

"Surely it's been—"

"Lydia." The firmness in his voice shut her up and she stared at the bubble when his mic was activated. "What's wrong? Did I offend you?"

"Not at all, Corpse," she sighed and put her chin in her hands. "I don't know... I..." He waited for her to gather her thoughts.

"Did I freak you out when—"

"No! You haven't— you never made me feel uncomfortable ever. I just... I don't know." Lydia licked her lips. Her hair was suddenly too warm and the best in her chest ricocheted off of her bones. "I'm afraid of changing the way things are now."

"What do you mean?" The contemplative tone in his voice sent a spark in the corners of her lips.

"I just know— that— well its— 𝘶𝘨𝘩! Right now is so perfect, Corpse! Everyone plays together, we have so much fun, we're 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 talking and I just— I can't let it all be ruined. Corpse... you know that if we meet in real life and end up together in real life just to break up, it will ruin the bonds we have now online. It will never be the same. I'm so so scared of losing you and everyone else. I don't want to be alone—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Lyd. It's alright you're okay," he softly comforted her as he recognized that her words fumbled out of her mouth like an anxiety fueled train. "That won't happen. The people we play with would never cut us off."

"But what if we make drama! What if us talking ruins streams and videos and other friendships! I don't want that."

"How could we?"

"If we break up!" And there was silence on the other end. Oh no— what if. There was no way. Corpse was never on and off though, he just never fully spoke his mind about things. Lydia was the one who was on and off about her emotions; she felt happy, naive, and playful with him on stream then switch up and was completely enthralled by him the next. Her cheeks would flush and she would feel warm all over her body...

"𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘺."

She sucked in a harsh breath. He was always so convincing...

"Even if one day we were to break up, I would try to avoid it being rough in every way I possibly can. I can't promise it wouldn't happen at all since not everything is in my control, but I can promise you that even if we did break up and didn't speak to each other romantically anymore, I would never cut you off and never allow that to be a reason to put negative things between us or our streams."

"Really?" She said timidly. The fact that he described their friendship as "romantically speaking" made her muscles mush and heart like sweet honey.

"Really," he replied with a smile pulled at his lips. "But you have to promise the same thing."

"Okay. Of course I do."

"Good."

And more silence spread between them.

"So.. I don't know..."

"What?" He chuckled.

"We're together then?"

"Of course, I want— 𝘺𝘦𝘴, please?" Lydia giggled as he fumbled through the messed up sentence. She didn't know what to say and she laughed happily. It was the first time in a while that true relief and happiness spread through her body.

"Yes, yes, yes, god I only want to be with you," she said quickly.

"Good," he smiled. "I only want to be with you."


End file.
